Week 1 Day 1

This exercise routine begins with five minutes of brisk walking followed by twenty minutes of alternating one minute jogs / ninety second walks. It concludes with a five minute cooldown walk.

As you can see, I rounded out my newbie gear with bicycle pants and my finest heavy cotton running shirt. There is an emergency shut-off cord that attaches to the treadmill, but I wasn't sure how to attach it to me so I stuffed it in my pants - athletes don't think as hard as geeks. My wife took some pictures and made a video clip. After three of the running intervals, I asked my wife to leave the basement. I did the walking at 3.5 mph and the jogging (or jiggling) at 5.5 mph. My heart rate went into hummingbird territory. I could feel the exercise in my ankle and shin areas. Everything else except the breathing was hunky-dory.

It may be hard to see how profusely I perspired in the photograph above, but trust me: I was drenched! Letting the kids hit me with a water gun afterwards didn't make matters much worse. Max wanted a head shot, and Elaine targeted a bit southward.